Something smells fishy

Forget ID cards, they are so yesterday. Der Spiegel Online reports:

A new weapon has been found in the global war on terror. Amid all the modern equipment and techniques such as computer networks, digital data profiling and the planned online access to PCs, the age-old method of scent analysis is enjoying a revival.

The Stasi secret police used scent gathering in Communist East Germany, collecting smells in empty jam jars and storing them. The method has reminded Germans of that failed regime of snoopers, and was highlighted in the recent Oscar-winning film "The Lives of Others" about a Stasi surveillance officer.

Let's see, they need an officer who can smell something bad even when no one else can detect it.

Got John Yates's phone number anyone?

(Hat Tip: Bruce Schneier)